


Goodbye, Love

by MaryaDmitrievnaLikesSundays



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Homophobia, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Murder, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:00:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26037547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryaDmitrievnaLikesSundays/pseuds/MaryaDmitrievnaLikesSundays
Summary: When Nico is forced to confess to Cupid, Percy is with him instead of Jason.Cupid is merciless anyways.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo & Percy Jackson
Comments: 14
Kudos: 228





	Goodbye, Love

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re here looking for more holding to the ground updates, no you arent❤️  
> Anyways, comment, please!!

Nico didn’t want to search for Cupid.

In his opinion, Love had done more than enough to ruin his life. It had cost him friends, a father, a mother, a place in the universe. The last thing he wanted to do was look in the face of the man who destroyed his world and beg.

  
And he certainly didn’t want to do it right in front of Percy, who had come along with him. His heart pounded in a way that made him feel sick at the thought of relenting to whatever Cupid decided to tell Percy.

But that was his only option. They needed an army, and only an army of the undead would comply.  
  


 _You must face the God of Love._ He hoped Favonius was bluffing. He knew, though, that he wasn’t.   
  


The ground started with to shake beneath his feet, and he drew his sword as Percy clicked Riptide into action.

_So._

Against his will, Nico gasped. He turned to see the source of the voice, but no one was there.

_You come to claim the scepter._

Nico swallowed his fear, but couldn’t help flinching when Percy pressed his shoulders into Nico’s back.

”Eros!” Percy yelled, holding Riptide aloft. “Or, er, Cupid! Whichever! Where are you?”

Cupid laughed, and the sound grated down Nico’s spine like knives.   
  


_Where you least expect me,_ Cupid answered. _As Love always is_.  
  


Nico yelped as an invisible force slammed into Percy, tossing him down a set of stairs. Nico’s heart jumped, and he scrambled down the stairs. Thankfully, he saw Percy shakily rising, and let out a breath of relief.

”You alright?” He called from the base of the stairs, not daring to come any closer.

”Yeah,” Percy said, though his voice was strained. “Just got thrown across street.”

Nico felt Cupid’s presence rush past him and into the basement, sending a chill up his spine.

_Did you expect me to play fair?_ Cupid laughed, a malicious sound. _I am the god of Love. I am never fair._

Nico knew that. He knew better than anyone that none of this was close to fair.

He was so deep in his own regret that he didn’t notice the arrow materializing out of thin air and streaking towards his chest in a deadly arc. His eyes widened, and suddenly Percy was there, pushing him away and deflecting the arrow with the flat of his sword.

Nico stumbled back, he spot where Percy had touched him feeling as though it had been burned.

He darted a column that began to fall, called for Percy to do the same. Limestone dust billowed into the air, choking Nico’s throat.

“What’s this guy’s problem?” Percy coughed. “I thought he was supposed to be some chubby baby.”

_Ah, you think too innocently of Love, Percy Jackson. You haven’t known it’s true pain. Not like some of us in this room.  
  
_

Percy eyed Nico curiously, and Nico’s blood started to boil. Who was this guy to threaten him, to try and call his bluff, to hurt his friend? He had no right to hold any kind of power over Nico.  
  


“We just want the scepter!” Nico shouted, hoping his fear and rage would just sound like heroic gusto. “We’re trying to stop Gaea. Are you on the gods’ side or not?”

  
A second arrow hit the ground between Nico’s feet and glowed white-hot. Nico stumbled back as the arrow burst into a geyser of flame.

  
 _Love is on every side_ , Cupid said. _And no one’s side. Don’t ask what Love can do for you._

”Ask what you can do for Love. Alright, pack it up JFK,” replied Percy. He swung his sword behind him, and Nico saw it hit invisible flesh. He smiled at the grunt that came out of Cupid, but the next slice hit only air. All that remained was golden ichor glistening on the steps.

_Ah, Percy Jackson. You’re luckier than most: you have had a glance at true love.  
  
_

”Fantastic,” Percy deadpanned. “Now what about the Scepter?”

Cupid laughed again, and Nico’s rage faltered back into fear for a moment. _You could never wield it, Son of Poseidon. You haven’t experienced nearly enough of what I have in store. You are a fool._  
  


Before Nico could question why, a third arrow sprouted from his shoulder. He gasped and dropped his sword, stumbling back.

”Nico!” Percy called, but it seemed far away. His senses sharpened again, and when he looked down he saw no blood or arrow, but the pain remained, striking from his shoulder to his heart.   
  


“Enough!” Nico yelled, blinking the blur out of his eyes. “Show yourself!”

_It is a costly thing, to look upon the face of Love. You yourself have paid much. You still have more to lose._

Another column toppled, almost smashing Percy as he darted out of the way.

_My wife Psyche learned that lesson_ , Cupid said. _She was brought here eons ago, when this was the site of my palace. We met only in the dark. She was warned never to look upon me, and yet she could not stand the mystery. She feared I was a monster. One night, she lit a candle, and beheld my face as I slept._

”What, were you too ugly?” Percy taunted, holding a bleeding wound on his forearm.

The god laughed. _I was too handsome, I’m afraid. A mortal cannot gaze upon the true appearance of a god without suffering consequences. My mother, Aphrodite, cursed Psyche for her distrust. My poor lover was tormented, forced into exile, given horrible tasks to prove her worth. She was even sent to the Underworld on a quest to show her dedication. She earned her way back to my side, but she suffered greatly._

Percy yelled suddenly and raised his hands. A column of water shot up through the ground, and Cupid’s voice went silent.

A long moment passed. Percy started to smile, when an unseen force flung him across the room and into a wall. Riptide went flying.

_A good try,_ Cupid said. _But Love is not so easily pinned down._

The wall Percy leaned against toppled, and he barely rolled out of the way in time. He shouted as a piece of limestone clipped his arm.

”Stop it!” Nico yelled, fighting to keep tears out of his voice. “It’s me you want! Leave him alone!”

  
_You could stop this at any time. You just choose not to. You are letting this happen._

A loud sob escaped him, on the verge of a shout. “No, I can’t, I—I don’t have to do anything for you!”

Across the room, Percy groaned and raised his head. Nico could barely hear over the roar in his ears.

_Poor Nico di Angelo_. The god’s voice was tinged with disappointment. _Do you know what you want, much less what I want? My beloved Psyche risked everything in the name of Love. It was the only way to atone for her lack of faith. And you—what have you risked in my name?_

  
What has he risked? He’d risked everything. He had given up his _life_ over his feelings.

  
  
“I’ve been to Tartarus and back,” Nico snarled. “You don’t scare me.” His legs trembled even as he said it.

Cupid’s voice was closer this time, as if it came from inside Nico. I _scare you very, very much. Face me. Be honest._

Nico’s rage bubbled up again. He pulled on all of the dead beneath him, and the ground started to shift, showing rifts and cracks as the bones started to break through.

“Give us Diocletian’s Scepter. We don’t have time for games.” He was barely holding onto his sanity. His veins were fighting between icy fear and flaming rage. At any moment he would break, collapse, die on the spot.

_Games?_ Cupid questioned, slapping Nico into a fallen column. He felt bruises blossom over his back. _Love is no game! It is no flowery softness! It is hard work—a quest that never ends. It demands everything from you—especially the truth. Only then does it yield rewards.  
_

 _  
Rewards,_ Nico thought bitterly. Love had never once given him a reward. It hadn’t even given him a passing glance, a glimmer of hope.

”Nico,” Percy called, standing with Riptide again, “what does this guy want from you?”

At Percy’s voice, the fear in Nico’s gut expanded to his entire body, mixing with rage and hatred and everything else he hid so deep inside. He felt like he was dying, like he was back in Tartarus, flames licking his feet and shadows lapping at the edge of his mind.  
  


 _Tell him, Nico di Angelo,_ Cupid said _. Tell him you are a coward, afraid of yourself and your feelings. Tell him the real reason you ran from Camp Half-Blood, and why you are always_ _alone_.

Nico screamed. He couldn’t control it. Years of shame, apprehension, and paranoia let themselves loose through his voice and his powers as pure darkness engulfed the room. Skeletons crawled out from the ground, some with dented in skulls or shattered ribs, some dresses in torn togas or rusting battle armor.

_Will you hide among the dead, as you always do?_ Cupid taunted.  
  


Finally, Nico couldn’t hold himself in anymore. Cupid seemed to be drawing out his memories, forcing him to relive every interaction he’d ever had with Percy, every passing glance and angry glare. He felt the memories roll off of him in dark waves. He wanted them to stop, but he couldn’t reel them back in. His every secret was like string being pulled from a skein, and Nico couldn’t keep hold.  
  


Nico’s Roman skeletons surged forward and grappled with something invisible. The god struggled, flinging the dead aside, breaking off ribs and skulls, but the skeletons kept coming, pinning the god’s arms.

  
  
 _Interesting_! Cupid said. _Do you have the strength, after all?_

  
“I left Camp Half-Blood because of love,” Nico sobbed, though he didn’t know when he had started crying. “Annabeth…she—”  
  


 _Still hiding,_ Cupid taunted, smashing another skeleton to pieces. _You do not have the strength._

”Nico,” Percy called, and Nico could have died right there. He knew from his voice that Percy had seen every memory, had seen the rose tint that Nico’s mind had laid over them. It was over. He was over. 

Nico didn’t acknowledge him. He couldn’t. If he met Percy’s eyes, he would break.

_So you run away again,_ Cupid chided. _From your friends, from yourself._  
  
  
“I don’t have friends!” Nico yelled. “I left Camp Half-Blood because I don’t belong! I’ll never belong!”

  
The skeletons had Cupid pinned now, but the god just laughed.

”That’s not true! Leave him alone, Cupid!” Percy yelled.   
  


Nico couldn’t comprehend why Percy was defending him. He must have been banged around too much. Nico figured he had maybe thirty seconds before Percy got his wits back and drew his sword on him.

But for some reason, he couldn’t help but respond to Cupid’s taunts. His words were dragged painfully out of him, no matter how much he wanted to silently run. He wasn’t in control.

”I—I wasn’t in love with Annabeth,” he said, the words feeling like sandpaper grating his throat.

  
“It’s okay,” Percy said. “You were jealous of her. I get it. It’s alright.”

_It’s alright._

The phrase echoed in Nico’s head. _It’s alright_. All of his fight and denial drained out of him. He fell to his knees, the Roman dead crumbling into dust around him. Eerie silence fell.

”I hated myself,” he whispered. Tears spilling from his eyes, he finally gathered the strength to look at Percy. “I hated...you.”

There was none of the rage that he expected to see in Percy’s eyes. There was something closer to pity. That was almost worse.

Cupid finally became visible. Nico gasped. He saw a mop of dark, messy hair. He saw tan skin, a scar on a cheekbone. He saw sea green eyes. Cupid looked just like Percy Jackson. His bow was slung over his shoulder, infinitely more deadly than its usual cartoonish portrayal. Hard malevolence shone on his face, making his features look like jagged rocks on a cliff shore. Nico flinched.

  
Cupid smiled at his reaction. Nico realized that his pain, his misery, was giving Cupid _satisfaction._ Suddenly, it didn’t matter that his worst secret was in the open, or that he would probably have to kill Percy before he killed him. All Nico could think was that Cupid was the harshest god of all. Compared to him, Tartarus himself was child’s play.

”I loved Percy,” he spat. “That’s the truth. That’s the big fucking secret. Happy?”

Cupid just smiled. Against his will, Nico’s stomach fluttered. Percy gave him that same smile at Camp, so many years ago.

”I wouldn’t say Love always makes you happy,” Cupid said. “Sometimes it makes you incredibly sad. But at least you have faced it now. That is the only way to defeat me.”

Then, Cupid was gone. All that was remained was a wisp of smoke that smelled of rotting roses, and an ivory staff three feet long, topped with a dark globe of polished marble about the size of a baseball, nestled on the backs of three gold Roman eagles. The scepter of Diocletian.

Nico scrambled to his feet and picked it up, wielding his sword with his other hand. He forced himself to harden his face, and ignored the tears wetting his cheeks. As Percy stood, Nico took a defensive stance.

“Nico,” he began gingerly, taking a step forwards.

”Don’t!” Nico screamed, thrusting his sword forwards. “Don’t touch me!”

Percy jumped back and raised his hands, his eyes wide and trained in Nico’s sword. The fear in his face struck Nico like a knife.

  
“I won’t, man, I won’t,” Percy said. Nico shifted from foot to foot.

”If you do, I swear to the gods, I will rip you limb from limb before you could even scream.” Nico knew the tears on his cheeks betrayed his words. He couldn’t bring himself to care.

Unexpectedly, Percy dropped his sword. It fell to the ground with a loud flatter.

“I won’t, Nico. I won’t come near you. Just...”

He trailed off. Nico knew what he would say. _Just don’t ever come near me again. Just leave. Just get out of here, before I wrap you in a carpet and light you on fire like Jonathan from next door, back in 1941._

”Just know that it’s okay. I’m not upset.”

Nico blinked. “W-what?”

Percy smiled shakily. “It’s fine. I don’t care that you had a crush on me. Cupid’s an asshole, but you’re fine.”

“...You’re not mad?”

”Uh, no.”

Nico lowered his sword. “So...you’re not going to kill me?”

Percy’s smile dropped. “ _What?!_ No, of course not! Why would I kill you?”

Nico started to deflate. Of course Percy wouldn’t kill him. Percy was good, and kind, and stupid, and mean, and protective. What was he thinking? Shame flooded his small body, weighing him down. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “I don’t know.”

Tears started to flow again, and Nico couldn’t stop them. He didn’t want to.

”I don’t feel that way anymore,” he said. “It was a long time ago. I was young, and you were the first guy I’d ever seen like that, and I was impressionable, and...and—“ his voice cracked. He couldn’t go on.

Percy’s hand landed on his shoulder. He lifted his eyes. “It’s okay, man. That’s a secret you’ve kept for seventy years. I had a crush on Annabeth for years before we got together. Hell, I was into Beckendorf for a while.”

Nico wiped his eyes and sniffed. “You—you did?”

”Sure! I don’t know if you ever got to see that guy’s arms before he...you know, died, but they were fantastic. He got with Silena, though. But it doesn’t matter.”

Nico started to stand. His legs shook, but they held them.

He looked away, focusing on a spot just behind Percy’s shoulder. ”Just...don’t tell anyone on board that I’m...that I...”

Percy smiled sadly. “Sure, man. But you know, nobody would care. Piper would probably cheer that you have a love life at all.”  
  


Nico laughed, a shaky sound that quietly cut through his tears. He looked up at the sun streaming through the broken ceiling.

Percy regraded him with concerned eyes. “You ready to go?”

Nico stepped forwards, and let a streak of sunlight warm his face. Against everything, he smiled.

”Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

**Author's Note:**

> Coming from a bi girl—don’t fetishize gay men don’t fetishize gay men don’t fetishize gay men  
> Comment, please!


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